The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has appointed energy firms Keppel Energy, Sembcorp Utilities and Tuas Power Generation as biomethane aggregators to import and supply biomethane, EDB said today.
The firms are expected to import their first biomethane supplies by the end of 2028.
The firms will import biomethane needed to generate up to 300MW of power, equivalent to roughly 600,000 households' annual energy needs in Singapore, from regional and international sources, and supply it to data centres and industrial manufacturers in Singapore. The biomethane can be supplied as biomethane gas or biomethane-derived electricity.
The initiative to import and supply biomethane is the first of its kind in southeast Asia, and will help Singapore explore biomethane as a decarbonisation pathway, EDB said.
This initiative is carried out under Singapore's 300MW regulatory sandbox, a pilot project, which will run for 15 years. The sandbox will test the commercial, regulatory and operational arrangements needed to import biomethane and help to shape its frameworks for wider adoption, according to EDB.
Biomethane is chemically identical to fossil-derived methane which is the main component of natural gas. It acts as "direct drop-in replacement" for fossil natural gas so it can utilise existing gas infrastructure and be consumed without modifications to equipment or industrial processes. This makes it one of the most practical near-term decarbonisation options available, especially as natural gas accounts for around 95pc of Singapore's electricity generation, EDB said.
